Combining whimsical comedy, magic tricks and elaborate, if admittedly far-fetched, murder mystery, Jonathan Creek transformed the whodunnit into the howdunnit, turned stand-up Alan Davies into a household name, and in its ’90s prime, trumped Sherlock as the BBC’s most entertaining detective show.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the first time that David Renwick’s ingenious creation first hit our screens.

To celebrate, here’s a look at 20 things you may not know about everyone’s favourite tousle-haired, windmill-dwelling amateur sleuth.

Davies wasn’t the first choice to play Creek

(Picture: BBC)

It’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role now, but at the time of casting Alan Davies was far from Renwick’s first choice.

Nicholas Lyndhurst was approached first, but turned it down for reasons unknown.

Rik Mayall also had to decline the offer due to his theatre commitments (although he later showed up in a Christmas special) while Hugh Laurie also did the same because he couldn’t understand Creek’s motivations.

Niger Planer, who would also later make a guest appearance, and Angus Deayton, who had worked with Renwick on the classic One Foot In The Grave, were just some of the other 12 actors who were originally considered before Davies.

Davies auditioned in his duffle coat

Producer Susan Belbin eventually stumbled upon Alan Davies after spotting him rehearsing for another TV sitcom.

The stand-up impressed in his subsequent audition – not only with his acting talents, but the straggly hair and duffle coat he was sporting that became Jonathan Creek’s signature look.

Maddy was originally intended to be Creek’s stepmother

Jonathan Creek’s first partner-in-crime was Maddy Magellan, a writer played by Caroline Quentin who enjoyed a largely platonic relationship with the sleuth.

But creator Renwick initially wrote Maddy as Creek’s stepmother, with the pair teaming up to investigate crimes in honour of his murdered father.

Renwick eventually realised that this scenario was a little too close to the avenging son story of Batman, and instead decided that Creek’s parents should live in America.

A Buffy regular first played Adam Klaus

Picture: 20th Century Fox

Adam Klaus, the rather hammy magician that Creek is employed to devise tricks for in the early series, was played by Stuart Milligan from the sixth episode onwards.

But the character was portrayed in the pilot by Anthony Head, who then had to leave the show when he landed the role of Rupert Giles in a little-known show called Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Adam Klaus originally had a different name

Sticking with Creek’s boss, Adam Klaus was originally named Adam Faust.

But Renwick was forced to make a change after the BBC’s legal team discovered that there was already a real-life magician named Adam Faust.

The theme tune derives from the late 19th century

The show’s slightly eerie instrumental theme tune was arranged by Julian Stewart Lindsay, a composer who has also worked with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Culture Club and The Beach Boys.

It’s actually based on Danse Macabre, a tone poem for orchestra written by Frenchman Camille Saint-Saens way back in 1874.

Alan Davies’ favourite episode is…

The 1998 Christmas special, Black Canary.

Davies told Den Of Geek in 2013 that the episode was the most enjoyable to film due to the guest appearances of Rik Mayall, Francis Matthews and Murray Melvin.

The highest-rated episode is….

Miracle On Crooked Lane, which pulled in a whopping 11.45m viewers when it first aired in December 1999.

The 50-minute episode centres on the mystery of a glamour model who is apparently seen unharmed just hours after being badly burned in a garden shed explosion.

It won just one Bafta

Despite being one of the most popular dramas of the last 20 years, Jonathan Creek has only ever picked up a Bafta Award once.

That was in 1998, when its first outing won Best Drama Series, although it has also picked up nominations for Best Design and Best Sound (both 1998) and Best Drama Series (1999).

There have been two attempts to adapt it in the US

(Picture: New Line Cinema)

Jonathan Creek is on that long list of UK shows which the US have tried to remake without much luck.

Production company Castle Rock (Seinfeld) first had a go, but the CBS network rejected David Renwick’s scripts for not being good enough.

A second attempt, which was tipped to star both Alan Davies and Whoopi Goldberg, also never got off the ground.

It featured several stars before they were famous

Jonathan Creek has given a leg up to several relative unknowns who would later become much more famous.

Long before the likes of Cutting It and Britain’s Got Talent, Amanda Holden appeared in 1998 episode The Problems At Gallows Gate as one of Adam’s latest conquests.

In the same year she landed the role of EastEnders’ Janine Butcher, Charlie Brooks also showed up in 1999 episode The Omega Man.

Three Doctor Whos have guest starred

Jonathan Creek is renowned for casting famous faces in one-off parts, including no less than three Doctor Whos.

Colin Baker was the first, appearing in the first episode as murdered artist Hedley Shale.

Peter Davison then starred as Reverend Stephen Claithorne in the Halloween-themed Danse Macabre a year later.

Paul McGann became the latest to show up in 2010, when he played crime novelist Hugo Dore in the feature-length Easter special, The Judas Tree.

It’s not the only Doctor Who connection either – Verity Lambert, who worked on the launch of the iconic sci-fi show, also served as producer for 20 episodes of Jonathan Creek.

Several celebrities have appeared as themselves

(Picture: Getty)

As well as giving a whole host of comedians the opportunity to play it straight (Bill Bailey, Jack Dee, Bob Monkhouse), Jonathan Creek has also given several celebrities the chance to play themselves.

Jonathan Ross, ex-BBC chief executive Michael Grade, and former University Challenge host Bamber Gascoigne are just three of the names who have done so over the years.

Jonathan Creek was named after a real place

Turns out that Jonathan Creek isn’t just the name of a cynical fictional magician’s assistant, it’s also the name of a real place in the US.

Creator Renwick got the idea for the character’s moniker after driving through Jonathan Creek in Kentucky during a trip with his wife.

It once recycled footage from another detective show

(Picture: ITV)

Eagle-eyed viewers of British detective shows may have experienced a sense of déjà vu during the scene in which Maddie’s childhood home is demolished in The Scented Room.

For the footage was actually taken from an episode of another hugely popular, if more conventional, crime drama, A Touch Of Frost.

David Renwick has made several cameos

David Renwick also appeared in front of the camera for the 2013 episode, The Clue Of The Savant’s Thumb, playing a bow tie-wearing interviewer questioning Nigel Planer’s polymath Franklin Tartitoff.

He also provided the distorted voice for the skeleton costume-clad killer in the aforementioned Danse Macabre.

You could once visit Creek’s abode

The West Sussex windmill which was used as Jonathan Creek’s home in the early series used to be open to the public.

Sadly, Shipley Windmill closed its doors after 50 years in 2009, when the lease owned by a charitable trust expired.

However, the exterior of the Grade II-listed building can still be viewed from a nearby public footpath.

Real magicians were consulted

As well as studying the work of Harry Houdini, Renwick also asked several magicians for their help on devising Creek’s magic tricks.

Former Magic Circle president Ali Bongo was one of the names who offered his expertise, while a special effects designer for Paul Daniels was also consulted.

Caroline Quentin’s up for returning

Julia Sawalha, Sheridan Smith and, more recently, Sarah Alexander have all played Creek’s sidekick since the turn of the century.

But his most popular remains his original partner, Caroline Quentin’s Maddy Magellan.

The Men Behaving Badly actress left the show in 2000 to give birth, but told Graham Norton in 2014 that she would love to return even though she hasn’t heard from the producers since.

Davies wants to keep playing Creek until at least 2024

Although there’s no official news of any more Jonathan Creek episodes yet, Alan Davies appears keen to keep the character going for at least a little while longer.

Speaking to Digital Spy in 2014, the actor revealed he’d like to play Creek for at least another ten years, but that it’s entirely up to David Renwick whether he gets the chance to do so.